Sales have undergone a major transition during the last years, and odds are the change to virtual-first will be permanent. Here are three sales budget questions to ask when allocating funds – to make sure that the sales teams have what they need to succeed in this new virtual space.
The world has changed during the last couple of years, and sales have changed alongside it. Gone are the days when a good chunk of the sales budget went toward business travelling, and equally gone is the time when sales reps primarily met their customers face-to-face. We are, in other words, living in a brand new world with brand new conditions and requirements. Which means that sales reps and teams will need new tools and resources to succeed.
This should be reflected in the sales budget, where it may be a good idea for funds to be allocated to new areas and where a few sales budget questions can be asked to increase the chance of success. Something that was recently discussed in a Forbes Council article, and that we’ve expanded on below:
1. How is your sales enablement situation?
With virtual sales, having the proper sales enablement tools to create optimal buyer journeys, drive sales digitally and uncover the insights necessary to close more deals, is absolutely vital. In fact, Seismic’s recent Annual Sales Enablement Benchmark Report, including answers from 1090 execs, showed that more than 70 % of tech companies, 71 % of pharmaceutical companies and 69 % of companies in the financial sector are planning to spend more in the area of sales enablement.
This indicates that “sales enablement is no longer a nice-to-have”, as Seismic themselves put it. Something that underlines the importance of allocating resources to provide sales teams with the sales enablement tools they need – and finding the tools that fit especially well and can give a competitive advantage.
2. How integrated is your tech?
Many organizations are still using older systems that aren’t really connected, where it can be difficult for sales teams to find and share information. If that is the case, it can be a great idea to look at – and allocate funds for – tools that can seamlessly be integrated with, for example, your CRM system.
These tools could, potentially, make the day-to-day lives of sales reps simpler and more productive, and where you may want to focus on the aforementioned sales enablement/intelligence tools. In order to give sales reps and leaders easy access to insights to act from, simplify the process of finding documents and information relevant for a particular account – or keep track of how the sales process is progressing.
3. Do the sales teams know what they need to know?
In this new, virtual world of ours, sales reps will need skills and expertise in two separate parts of the spectrum. On the one side, they may need to adjust to meeting with customers virtually, or develop the EQ skills that can make it easier to do so, and on the other side we find the technical skills they need. Which can, for example, mean that they need to be trained and educated in the new tools they now have at their disposal, so that they can use them optimally. In order for the investment to provide measurable results.
Making room in the budget for this type of training can, with this, be a way to not only maximize the ROI for the tools you use, but also to increase results. A win-win that should be taken into account.
Want to know more about growing and closing sales in a digital and remote world? Check out our Remote Sales Hub or contact us to talk to a Remote Sales Expert.
